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OPINION - Death or glory

Not wishing to sound like a Disney movie but the "cycle of life" is evident this week if you check out the latest on the Digital and Apple sagas.

Simply put: Digital's death knell has been sounded while Apple is attempting a Phoenix-styled reincarnation, although its flight doesn't so much resemble a soaring gout of bird-shaped flame, but more that of a badly singed robin, weaving drunkenly into the air trailing smoke and charred feathers.

Compaq is about to shove Digital into the corporate barber's chair and give it a quick short, back and sides. About 15,000 of them actually, although the company is staying hush-hush on exactly where the scissors will snip first. The other thing about the cuts is that Compaq has assured the world that the cuts will not drag on over a couple months. One source close to the barber claimed that the cuts will be carried out in a relatively short space of time. How reassuring for Digital employees. Despite not knowing where the cuts will come from, secretaries and other general admin staff should start checking the job ads now.

Although we knew that serious cuts were on the way - especially considering the very poor results by Compaq - it's sad to see another nail being driven into Digital's coffin. Even though all of its problems were brought on by itself through atrocious marketing and silly strategic shifts, it's somewhat sad to see the old giant being disassembled for parts like an old car.

Apple, on the other hand, is like the mad, bad lunatic in a psycho movie that gets stabbed, shot, burned, blown-up, dismembered and frozen only to pop back up in the dying seconds of the flick to have another go. CEO Steve Jobs has announced that the company is going back to its roots - no, not as a money-maker but as an innovator. And to tell the truth, no one does it better. Its new G3 notebooks are fast as hell and the new iMac low-cost desktop has more style than Jasper Conran.

We're glad that at least one IT institution is challenging fate, although the badly singed robin will have to gain altitude fast before some Intel-based farmer adds buckshot to the burn marks.